With the addition of the Legends League in the latest Super Mega Baseball game, I’ve had one thing on my mind for the past few days. Can you play as the team of professionals and Sprinfieldites from the Homer at the Bat episode of The Simpsons in Super Mega Baseball 4? You know? Jose Canseco, Wade Boggs, and the rest of the gang known from the show and baseball games of the nineties. Well, the answer is a very positive kinda, but it’s going to take a bit of work.
For a start, of the nine real-life characters that feature in Homer at the Bat, the seventeenth episode of the third season of The Simpsons, only three are officially in the game. Steve Sax, Mike Scioscia, and Ozzie Smith all play for the fictional team the Thrillers. So, there’s a base there. Outside of that, however, we need to get creative with the other six. But before getting to the pros, it’s time to do some admin.
I start a custom league and pick the Thrillers from the Legends League to customize, but the first things I need to change are the team name, logo, and uniform. Unfortunately, things are tricky from the off. You see, the team in Homer at the Bat doesn’t have a fancy name like the Springfield Nukes or the Power Plant Pitchers. No, after a deep dive, I found out there’s no alternative name for this team outside of The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team, and that name is a few characters too long for SMB4. So, the Springfield Nukes it is. Sorry, Matt Groening.
Outside of the team name, the logo is also a bit of an issue. Though you can only just about make it out in the episode, the team uses the power plant’s mascot, Smilin’ Joe Fission, as their cap logo. Of course, this character isn’t in Super Mega Baseball 4, and with my very limited artistic skills using the Joy-Cons, I can’t make anything even close. So, we have to ignore the logo. Due to a lack of nuclear silos or atomic structures in the logo menu, the only semi-sensible option is an astronaut’s helmet, paying tribute to another classic Simpsons episode, Deep Space Homer, where our favorite bald dad blasts out of the atmosphere.
Finally, before I can get into the individual players, there’s one big hurdle left to leap – the uniform. The outfit from Homer at the Bat is distinctly retro baseball attire, with the stars of the sport in the nineties looking more like they’re playing alongside Babe Ruth pre-WWII in the episode. Fortunately, Super Mega Baseball allows quite a bit of creative freedom in designing new outfits, so before long, I’ve got the shin socks with the white gap, I’ve got the red-all-over cap, and I’ve even got the appropriate footwear for each player. The team is ready. The outfit is complete. It’s almost time to play ball.
Now, onto the interesting part, the players. As I mentioned earlier, only three of the nine professionals from Homer at the Bat are available in-game, so we have to make the other six, plus our own Homer Simpson. Now for this, I’m not going to get too technical and make sure that each position is exactly as it should be outside of pitchers, batters, and fielders. I’ll be honest, everything I know about baseball is through the Super Mega series and the Homer at the Bat episode, so positioning isn’t my strong point. But, providing we have the full line-up out to bat, I’m happy.
If you’re a Simpsons head, I know what you’re thinking at this point. Yes, the team of pros from the episode doesn’t actually make the big game due to giant heads, Moe’s Bar brawls, falling on the wrong side of the law, and other hilarious mishaps. However, making a team with Carl, Lenny, and the background staff of the power plant just isn’t going to cut it. I’m going full Mr. Burns here. So I take the additional ball players from the Thrillers one by one and turn them into Ken Griffey Jr, Don Mattingly, Jose Canseco, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Darryl Strawberry.
With the legends of the game all in the team, it’s down to the final piece of the puzzle, Homer Simpson himself. As you can see in the image below, the Homer that plays for my team has slightly more hair and somehow matches up stats-wise against the greats of the game, but he’s still Homer. Unfortunately, you can’t write ‘Wonderbat’ on the side of his hitter, but outside of that, it’s as close as we’re going to get.
After all that hard work, it’s finally time to take my team out to the ball game. Sadly, you can’t recreate the best part of this episode, where Homer gets hit in the head by a pitch and accidentally makes a game-winning play. Still, you can absolutely smash it out of the park with some legends of the game while pretending to exist in the world of The Simpsons for just a moment. Even if it does require a bit of work behind the scenes.
So, going back to my original point, you can make the Homer at the Bat team in Super Mega Baseball 4 – ish. It’s not all there, ready to go, but creating the team is part of the fun. Now I’m done, I’m thinking I might create the Springfield Isotopes, or even go further afield. Maybe a grown-up version of the Bad News Bears, or the Rockford Peaches from a League of Their Own. I could have a whole fictional league made up of teams we know and love but never got to see take to the plate in real life.
This whole experiment also proves something else. Super Mega Baseball 4 is just white-hot fun. The expansive creative tools make it so you can add whoever you want to your favorite team, whether it be yourself, Homer Simpson, or legendary pitcher Don Mattingly. Add this creative ease to the show-stopping baseball gameplay of SMB4, and there’s a solid chance I’m going to spend plenty of seasons with the Springfield Nukes, hopefully taking them further than Mr. Burns ever could. Providing Wade Boggs doesn’t run into Barney Gumble again, that is.
For our thoughts on the complete package that is the latest in the SMB series, check out our Super Mega Baseball 4 Switch review. Or, if you’re looking for more sporting pursuits, browse through our lists of the best basketball games, golf games, football games, and bowling games.